Four Seasons
by Usagi Youkai
Summary: The avatar group finds Zuko drifting at sea and events trigger as he joins, trust is given and betrail is eminant, Zuko x Sokka later on
1. In the Night

Yes everyone, yet another Zuko/Sokka fic from me and not continuing the others. I'm Sorry! But I'm getting though this one pretty quick and I like how its turning out, so I thought I'd post it now cause the other one is in working progress with, um **-cough-** with more adult themed stuff and I'm having troubles with getting that part up.

Anyway I'm a horrible awful person! I killed my favorite character in the show! **-Hugs _Hiei and Kurama Lover_ for moral support- **I'm sorry Uncle Iroh! But I had to! Its for the yaoi!

Warnings: Zuko/Sokka; which means they will be seeing eachother in a romantic sense soon enough. Zuko OC; but not in the funny goofy sense, more like the dark quiet sense. Zhoa didn't die in the South Pole; I need him for the evil part later, cause that's when I started this.

This story was from the inspiration of Iroh's song, I love that song, I even recorded it and listen to it when I forget the tune, which isn't often.

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The water sloshed in the middle of the night, pulling and pushing everything on its surface. Gazing at another scrap of timber that was once part of the ship; charred and black, it was useless now. It floated away from him, and it seemed almost foreboding. A flicker of flames lit the sky in the corner of his vision, but in his current state, he couldn't bring himself to find the energy to think. 

In his moments of consciousness he remembered what had taken place. He'd been in his chambers when he felt the ship jolt. He'd run to the deck to see it on fire and he was shocked from the violent attack while they were docked.

"Zuko, Run!" He heard and saw his uncle trying to extinguish the fire on deck. He had yelled something back, he couldn't remember what; maybe he'd questioned the situation. His uncle just yelled at him though. "Run, Zuko! You must survive!" He then saw an incredible explosion, and felt the pain of debris sear his skin, then the meeting of freezing water...

He then watched as a small wooden tile floated by, half of it was blackened and barely distinguishable. But his mind knew what it was and with his ocean chilled fingers reached out and curled them numbly around it. He couldn't stay awake after that, he was exhausted and he wasn't sure if he even dropped the little tile to the merciless sea or not. The last thing that played through his mind was his elder's words: You must survive...

---

Appa bellowed as they flew over the ocean, the young Avatar popped up from lying on the flying bison's soft head. He yawned and patted the white fur. They'd flown another all nighter and the sun, huge and red over the horizon, rose slowly. Aang took the reins again and looked around, seeing land only a couple miles away from high above.

"Stop at the next island, boy." Aang said and Appa bellowed in agreement, slowly descending towards the small, but flourishing island. Appa knew where he was going, so Aang chanced a glance at his companions. Sokka was curled up in the back of the saddle, asleep. Katara had stayed up as long as she could by the front of the saddle, but had fallen asleep also, Momo curled up next to her, tiny chirps coming from him has he breathed out. Aang smiled and decided to be nice and wake them up before Appa made his very loud landing.

"Hey Katara..." the 12 year old prodded the sleeping water bender's shoulder, "Time to get up." Katara blinked her eyes open sleepily and Momo also chirped, lifting his head. Katara yawned and stretched.

"Ah..." she was caught in the middle of a yawn as she spoke, "Where are we Aang?" She asked and Aang shrugged.

"One more night of traveling north," he said, not sure how far they traveled, maybe 500 miles, maybe only 100; but either way, it was less to travel when they were rested up. Katara took the liberty of waking Sokka, having to shake her brother's shoulder hard before he would come out of dream land.

Sokka rubbed his eyes still as Appa flew lower. It was the most sensible thing to do really, Appa could fly 3 days straight if he wanted to; so an all nighter wasn't much for him, but it did take a toll on the humans on board. Sokka looked over the side of the saddle, watching the sea. He caught glimpses of things on the water. At first he thought nothing of it; they were probably clumps of seaweed that had floated to the surface after a storm.

Sokka was then alert, seeing something on the water. Sokka kneeled up and leaned over the side of the bison, a glimmer of red beneath the waves.

"Aang! Go back!" He yelled and everyone looked at him, confused.

"Go back where?" Aang asked and Sokka pointed back where the red glimpse had been.

"Back there, I saw something." Aang was still confused, but directed Appa around, the bison soon sliding into the calm waters, drifting towards where Sokka had pointed out. Sokka didn't take time to explain himself yet; he climbed over Appa's back and slid down his long flat tail, stopping before his feet hit the water. Katara looked over the back of the saddle to watch what her brother was doing.

Sokka looked around, and was not disappointed. The glimpse of red floated closer and he leaned down, grasping the red and pulling out a large blanket like banner, blood red. He didn't have to open it to know what it was, but he did anyway. Opening it he found a good portion of it burned, but it was clear that it was a fire nation emblem. Katara gasped slightly at seeing what it was when her brother opened it.

"What happened?" she asked; a question they all wondered. Sokka could only determine a few things from the evidence around them. The banner was burned, and no self respecting bender would damage their own flag. A fire nation ship had been attacked by one of their own. By the debris around them, it looked to be an unexpected ambush and a vicious attack. He had to assume that it was getting pretty bad for the fire nation if they were attacking their own ships.

Sokka didn't know about how fire nation's traditions about flags, and he couldn't say he cared most of the time, but the thought of a ship betraying another, it seemed so wrong, he actually felt sympathetic. He sighed and let the flag drop into the waves, noticing the only thing that had been keeping the flag afloat was a stray board piece. It slid below the waves now, disappearing into the deep blue.

"Hey, I think I see some one!" Aang announced to the water tribe siblings and they both looked in Aang's direction and when Sokka climbed back to the saddle they all were looking at another figure by the beach they had been heading towards in the first place. Appa slowly swam towards the island, slowly approaching the figure. It turned out to be a person, a fire bender they were sure.

Appa swam on, and out of moral and curiosity, Aang and Katara guided the person along beside Appa, making pulling and pushing motions to make the waves push him towards shore. The person was not easily recognized from the angle they were at, the person's face turned away, on a piece of limber, the only reason he hadn't sunk below the waves like the flag.

Only a couple yards from shore, Aang jumped off Appa and manually dragged the person, a teenager, to shore. Appa had climbed on to shore a bit before the siblings climbed off and hurried over to help Aang. Sokka got there first and helped drag the unconscious one to dry land. Once there, they turned the fire nation fighter over onto his back, a mess of black hair in the way of the person's face.

Most spontaneous and concerned, Aang brushed the wet locks away. First noticed was the open wounds and bruises, then when Aang cleared the left side of his face they all jumped back from the fire bender on instinct.

It was Prince Zuko. His most clear feature was the miss-pigmented scar on his face, but the rest of him was a mess. His hair was unbound from its restraints and his skin covered in nicks and cuts. His clothes were torn from what ever had cut his skin, and scorch marks were ever present.

Aang immediately felt for a heart beat and breathing. He found no air being taken into the lungs, but he found a small pulse in the prince's wrist. He kneeled next to Zuko and looked to Katara.

"He's not breathing," He announced, "Katara, help me." He lifted his hands but Katara was hesitant.

"Wait, Aang, this is Zuko," She said.

"I know," the avatar said, "But we can't just let him die, we have to get the water out of him." Katara was still not sure about it, and neither was Sokka, Zuko was the one that had been chasing them for so long, trying to take Aang away from them. But Aang turned his wide watery eyes on, pleading with the water bender. "Please Katara, he saved me once, I can't just let him die." Katara gave into the eyes and sighed, going over and kneeling on the other side of Zuko.

Sokka only stood by and watched. The two benders, quickly got a rhythm going; Katara used her push and pull movements, trying to force the water out of the fire bender's lungs while Aang tried to force life giving oxygen into Zuko. Sokka only watched, the two bender's concentration was intense, willing the water to come out. Sokka mean while examined the other's condition.

Zuko was paler than he'd ever seen him, a ghostly white, most likely from the chilled waters; it could have easily given him hypothermia. Soaked and defenses down, this was defiantly not a side of Zuko any of them expecting to see; or had ever thought there was until now.

Looking further, he saw Zuko's fingers clutched loosely. Curiously, Sokka kneeled next to the fire bender, next to his sister. She and Aang were too focused to bother seeing what he was doing; this took total concentration, trying to get water out of where they couldn't see. Sokka took Zuko's fist and easily pried the chilled fingers open.

Maybe in the back of his mind he'd thought Zuko would have been holding onto something more valuable. Maybe a piece of jewelry or precious gem; he was a prince after all. What he wasn't expecting him to find was a little lotus tile from a Pai Sho game. It seemed to have no specific value to him; half of it was charred anyway, but habit's sake of foraging during traveling made him slip it into the back of his boot.

Just then did Katara made a successful sound, a stream of sea water floating out of Zuko's mouth and pouring back into the ocean. Zuko sat up, convulsing and coughing, his airway free now, working quickly to catch up to the breaths his lungs had been denied until then. They all tensed at the prince's momentary consciousness, but Zuko fell again into the sand, body deprived of rest and possibly with a concussion. What ever it was, his body was not yet ready to be conscious.

Aang, Katara, and Sokka sighed simultaneous, all startled by the sudden action. And all curious to know what happened to Zuko, Aang decided for them, to help the prince.

* * *

All for not I know its short and weird sounding but all beginnings are. And to warn everyone, my computer is broken (I'm using the one at School) so you may have to wait a while for an update from any story, sorry bout that. Please review, thank you and good night 


	2. Awoken Prince

Next chapter, our prince has awoken

And thank you Mrs.Delrossi2.0, I have Zhao's name spelled wrong like 3 times in my note book :p silly me.

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"_Prince Zuko, You must focus on your basics," Iroh said calmly, patently. A 14 year old Zuko, with his bitter attitude and stubborn disposition, was still trying to force his bending to be stronger. He was currently trying to form a large cannonball sized fireball between him palms, and even though his uncle knew it would be too strong for him, Zuko would not listen to reason._

"_I can-" Zuko managed to speak through his concentration, sweat already dripping down his brow, "I can handle it, Uncle!" Iroh just shook his head and the ball started to deform, becoming like molten liquid, sloshing around in the air until Zuko forced too hard and it sputtered out on him, draining his strength and he fell to his knees, breathing hard. _

_Iroh shook his head and walked over to his nephew. Zuko had the fire in him, a powerful flame that may rival his father's, but unless Zuko learned to control the power, he would barely be able to light a campfire without frying everything in the vicinity. _

_In a burst of anger, Zuko slammed his fists on the deck of the ship in his frustration. "Why can't I get this?" Iroh helped his nephew to his feet, even though the young prince was being unhelpful, staggering to his feet and yanking away from his uncle._

"_You held your breath." Iroh said simply, calmly, patient with his student and family. Zuko looked at his Uncle, breathing hard from his exertions, though Iroh's calm presence seemed to be contagious and the prince quieted significantly, folding his arms and acting huffy now. "Fire needs a constant flow of chi and oxygen, if you are without one, you are without fire." Prince Zuko huffed._

"_I know that, Uncle, but I need to get stronger if I'm ever to find the avatar." Zuko said and Iroh shook his head. If only Zuko knew that he was already so powerful, that it was not power, but control he needed._

"_I knew a naive bender that wanted to get stronger and powerful," Iroh said, "He was ruthless and unleashed so much power it nearly burned down an entire forest." Zuko's eyes lifted to his uncle's, curiosity swimming in his amber orbs. It wasn't often that Iroh's stories caught his interest._

"_Who was he, Uncle?" he asked, his voice considerably softer; this bender sounded amazing. Iroh looked into Zuko's as he spoke, watching his nephew's reaction carefully._

"_Your father," Iroh said and immediately Zuko's eyes widened and averted to the floor. It was a dirty trick of physiology for Iroh, but he couldn't let his nephew become power hungry, he would surly not catch the avatar that way. He knew Zuko was still bitter... No, not just bitter, he was down right resentful towards his father for banishing him. He was ashamed of being banished and wished now that he'd fought back to prove his worth. Iroh rested a hand on Zuko's shoulder and for once that day was not shoved away. _

"_Your father, King Ozai, did not only burn a forest to the ground, but also his fellow soldiers and numerable water and earth benders. He did not know how to control this burden and blessing that is in all of us. He'd crossed the line of savagery long ago, and I don't believe he ever will fully come back to sanity." Zuko was quiet, head turned away from his Uncle's vision. "If you can harness this control now, like few have done, you will be more powerful than any fire bender dares to be. And for this, you must learn patience, mortality, and be at peace with yourself." Zuko was still quiet, and he patted his nephew's shoulder before deciding to give it a rest for the day; it was best to let Zuko dwell over his words a while. Iroh smiled warmly then. _

"_Come, we shall drink tea and have a sporting game of Pai Sho." And then he walked away to prepare the game and tea, Zuko's eyes turning only to see Iroh shut the cabin door. Then he walked over the railing of his ship, gazing out at the sea. He refused to turn into his father; he refused...He refused…_

Zuko sat up then, awoken at the end of the memory, a sense of empty calm hovering over him. Staring blankly in front of him, not registering where he was right away; tent, blanket over the lower half of his body, missing his shirt, bandages around major injuries (Shoulder cut, arm cut, side gash, from sharp glass and metals). The bandages were soaked with a red pool of blood in the middle of each bandage where the wound was.

Reaching up slowly, he winced at the movement, but another wince was because he felt a large, and very tender, bump on the back of his head. Finally his brain started working reasonably and he heard people bickering outside.

"I don't see why I have to do it, you're the healer."

"I did it this morning, and you still have yet to take you're turn."

"When did we start taking turns!" There was an amusing "Ow!" of someone obviously getting nailed in the head. "Alright! You don't have to start throwing things at me!" He heard someone grumble and come closer.

Sokka pulled open the tarp of the tent and it flapped shut before Sokka stopped and blinked, seeing the fire bender was awake. Zuko just watched him, observing. Sokka's expression turned from surprised to huffy in one snort and carried the small medical kit, which his sister had thrown at him, over to Zuko's bed side.

"Finally awake." He just stated as he knelt down next to the prince and Zuko didn't reply. Sokka watched him carefully, a subconscious thought making him be cautious; Zuko was like a wounded animal and could strike if he felt cornered. Zuko made no tense moves though so he decided to get this done and over with. "I'm going to change your bandages." He said coolly and opened the tin kit.

Sokka thought it was strange that Zuko hadn't started questioning him about where he was or how long he'd been out; or, his most favorite of question, where was the avatar. Sokka took out a pair of scissors, and found Zuko's eyes still on him. He ignored that fact and started to snip away at the dirty shoulder bandages. Zuko didn't even finch, Sokka observed, just watched him; and to tell the truth, it was a bit creepy and nerve wracking. Once the shoulder bandages were off, he cleaned the wound with some kind of solution that Katara brewed up with hot water and herbs. She'd mentioned that Zuko had flinched when she applied it when he was sleeping, but Zuko didn't even react when he did it. He rewrapped the wound with a clean bandage and moved on to the one on Zuko's side.

"You've been unconscious for nearly two days," Sokka finally said, the silence more unnerving than the prince's stare, "I'm guessing your ship got blown to bits by the look of the debris around the area. By another fire nation ship I suppose…" He looked up at Zuko but his expression hadn't changed since Sokka had walked in; indifferent and uncaring. Sokka couldn't tell if it was an act or what.

Sokka finished with the gash on Zuko's side and wrapped that as well. He actually got a reaction out of that wound, maybe because it was the most tender injury, but Zuko's body shied away as soon as he'd touched it with the salve. But that was it, the only movement he got out of the prince that whole time. Sokka gestured for Zuko to give him his arm and with somewhat shock; he was given it without protest. Sokka grasped Zuko's wrist and with a quick glance at the fire bender, he began dressing that injury as well.

Sokka felt less tense as Zuko cooperated, being able to get this done quickly and effectively. He was even starting to feel calm in Zuko's presence; Zuko had turned his eyes to stare at the tent in front of him, so it wasn't as nerve wracking any more. The normally loud and demanding Zuko now quiet was strange, but it was defiantly better on the stress levels. He glanced up at Zuko a bit as he was finishing the wrapping. The tiny nicks and cuts, they hadn't bothered with, they were too minor to use any bandages on them, but they blemished Zuko's handsome features. The ugly scar on the left side of his face was bad enough, but the new little scrapes of the skin just added lines that weren't suppose to be there.

Sokka finally finished and closed the medicine box and piled all the dirty bandages with the others in the corner. He stood, holding the box in both hands, and Zuko still hadn't moved, hadn't spoken; it was still unnerving to be around the prince, he wanted out.

"I'll get Katara to get you some food…" And after not getting a reply, he left, the tent flapped closed after him. Zuko watched him go, and then his gaze drifted back to the tent, barely taking notice of their conversation outside. The question heaviest on his mind, was, 'what now?'

* * *

:D Some Zuko/Sokka for ya in this chapter, Even though its not full blown 'I love you because you're not mean anymore' its still the two of them interacting, and it looks like Sokka is _trying_! I really don't believe in love at first sight, that's why these two are so fun, they just have chemistry. 


	3. Conflicting Discussion

Gnargh, beginnings are hard to get into, this story isn't any different. Sorry its so slow, but its necessary.

* * *

"He's awake." Sokka announced as he exited the tent and Katara and Aang looked up from the camp fire. It was dark now and they were just sorting out dinner, fruits and vegetables that Momo had been found snacking on. 

"Did he say anything?" Aang inquired as he was opening an orange. Katara looked rather uninterested in the fire prince as she was pealing her own fruit.

"Not a peep," Sokka said and swiped a peach from the top of the pile, taking a large bite as he sat down with them; he was hungry. "Not so much as a snarl."

"He didn't ask for Aang?" Katara finally joined the conversation and Momo nibbled on the citrus peal, but he dropped it because it was bitter and snatched an apple instead.

"He didn't even glare at me, Katara," Sokka said, glancing momentarily at the tent, "I'm starting to wonder if he hit his head." Aang thought a moment on that last comment and then he grinned, an idea striking.

"If he did, do you think he'd come with us?" the avatar asked and Sokka promptly started choking on his food while Katara's eyes widened.

"Aang, think about what you're saying," Katara said reasonably while Sokka swallowed his food instead of choking on it, "Zuko has been chasing you for so long, I don't think us helping him is going to change his mind about him continuing to do so."

"But what if it does?" Aang reasoned "And what if that ship was his, he has no place else to go."

"But we're not required to take him with us, I'm sure another fire nation ship will find him."

"But what if they don't?"

"I'm sure he could take care of himself."

"I'm sure he could help me with fire bending."

"You don't need to learn it from him…"

Sokka watched this go on for a bit; obviously he had no say in this argument, seeing his sister grow frustrated but the air bender stayed calm and positive. Momo also watched, nibbling his apple peel, his big eyes darting from each human that spoke.

Sokka had to admit he did see both of their points; his sister's first and foremost. Zuko had been trying to get Aang since they'd known the both of them. It was an on going cycle; Zuko comes, threatens, fights, and they all escape with little reason as of why the prince did it. It was clear Zuko wasn't with the immediate fire nation army though, Admiral Zhao had made that clear in the fire nation temple, he had called Zuko a traitor, but it definitely didn't mean that Zuko was on their side either. Of course that brought him to Aang's point, which was, Zuko could actually be a potential ally. He was most defiantly a good fighter and, if the fire bender was willing, could teach Aang how to fire bend and control it. Even though Aang had sworn to not fire bend again after Master Jeong Jeong, they all agreed that Aang had to learn sooner or later, there was no getting around it.

Katara and Aang kept discussing who was right and who was not; rarely did they ever raised their voices to one another, and it didn't look as if they were going to start. Of course this meant that it could take a while for them to agree either. He sighed and glanced at the food pile, which was slowly dwindling because of a certain snacking lemur. Sokka sighed; it was obvious that his sister wasn't going to feed the injured fire bender so he would have to. Getting up, he collected a large leaf and started making a small pile of food, then he folded it up and with one last glance at his companions, he went to the tent and went inside.

He paused once inside, seeing Zuko was still up, in the last motions of putting back on his shirt, slow calculated movements; body stiff from healing and not moving. Zuko wasn't wearing armor; he hadn't been wearing any when they found him. Either the prince had stripped it off in the sea to keep afloat or he hadn't been prepared to fight when his ship was blown to bits. He guessed the latter since it wasn't part of the normal fire nation uniform; it was a simple black tunic and pants. He also noticed that Zuko had ripped the end of his tunic and bound his hair up and out of the way. He looked more like himself now with the make shift hair tie, it had been odd seeing the prince with his black hair down, it had been something unrestrained very unlike the rest of him.

Zuko glanced up and caught Sokka's gaze; that same unreadable, unnerving look in his eyes. Sokka turned his eyes away and held out the folded leaf.

"Katara was busy," He stated, "Food." Zuko didn't make a move for it and Sokka couldn't blame him, if the situation was switched, he wouldn't take it either, via fear of poisoning. He set it down and didn't chance a glance at the fire bender, leaving again, and caught the last of the conversation.

"--fine, but I'm not going to have anything to do with him." Katara said stubbornly, Sokka was sure she was even more bitter towards the prince, not just because of the fact that Zuko had been chasing Aang, but because of their bending fights, fire against water, it was an on going fight between the moon and sun.

"You don't have to." Aang said and Sokka did notice that 12 year old aggravation in his voice, impatience obvious, though glad the argument was settled. And so it seemed done.

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Sokka asked, gesturing to the tent that the prince was in. The two looked at him.

"Ok," Aang said casually, tilting his head to the side in a childish manner of curiously, "What do you say about leaving Zuko to the cold and unforgiving wilderness?" Sokka opened his mouth to speak, and then shut it again. He didn't trust the prince as far as he could throw Appa, but he didn't want to leave an injured person to the wilderness, fire bender or not. He mimicked a fish a moment, and then clicked his teeth shut in frustration before he found actual words.

"Well we can't just leave him... I guess." Sokka said and cursed Aang's ability to persuade people.

"Great!" the avatar cheered, throwing a triumphant fist into the air, and then a thought accrued to him. "Hey now we need an earth bender; or Sokka needs to learn a new trick." Sokka set his jaw in annoyance as his sister giggled and Aang just grinned at his own wit.

"Yeah, whatever." Sokka said a bit sourly and sat in their unspoken circle, grabbing what little fruit was left and ate it. Katara fell into a sullen silence after the joke was passed, still not pleased by the decision. Sokka glanced at the tent, mind tracing back to Zuko's strange silent behavior. Had something traumatizing happened? Or maybe the prince was just being stubborn and unsocial; he wouldn't doubt it.

They all settled on the decision to work it out in the morning, it was getting late. Whether or not Zuko agreed to come with them, they had to continue their journey tomorrow.

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Slowly, but surely, I'm working on it and my other fics 


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